Overview of Nurse Practitioners in Hawaii
Increasing the number of nurse practitioners in Hawaii can improve access to care, shorten wait times and strengthen the quality of healthcare. Want to use your nursing degree to pursue a nurse practitioner career? You’re in the right place to get started. On this page, learn more about degree and licensing requirements, clinical hours and career paths for NPs. Start your search for nurse practitioner programs in Hawaii by searching above or checking out featured schools below.
Health care in Hawaii has come far in recent years, but there are many areas in which the state can benefit from the ongoing education of health care practitioners. With Hawaii’s huge tourism industry, millions of people visit the state each year. These visitors need access to emergent and urgent care to handle injuries and illnesses. Long waits or booked clinics can tarnish Hawaii’s economy. Nurse Practitioners are one solution to this problem. Read on to learn more!
How Can I Become a Nurse Practitioner in Hawaii?
If you’re skilled in patient care and you’d like to take on more responsibility with patients, becoming a nurse practitioner could be very fulfilling for you. Both Master’s and doctoral programs can help you get ready to become a licensed nurse practitioner.
Master’s Requirements for Nurse Practitioner Degrees
- Credit hours required: 55
- Average cost: $1275 per credit
- Clinical hours required: At least 500 clinical hours
- Timeframe: Up to 3 years of full-time study
Doctoral Degree Requirements for Nurse Practitioners
- Credit hours required: Total of 80 credits
- Clinical hours required: At least 1000 hours
- Timeframe: 4 to 5 years of full-time study
Recent growth in health care means that this is an excellent time to learn more about your options in nursing. Request information from Hawaii NP degrees below to find out more.
Types of Nurse Practitioner Programs in Hawaii
Regardless of whether you choose a Master’s or doctoral degree in advanced nursing practice, you have to gain the same core competencies and abilities. In both options, you begin with a graduate nursing core that explores theory, advanced practice ethics, and leadership. From there you move on to courses that specifically address your responsibilities as an advanced practice nurse. This part of your curriculum includes clinical work.
After finishing your core nursing courses, you may start specialized training. These classes are relevant to the population you’ll work with after graduation. In Hawaii, you may choose from options like adult-gerontology care and family care.
If you go into a doctoral program, you may complete even more high-level coursework that looks at health care systems and advanced nurses’ role in them.
Commonly Required Master’s Degree Courses
- Health Policy
- Advanced Assessment and Clinical Reasoning
- Clinical Skills and Procedures
- Pathophysiology for Advanced Practice
- Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
- Women’s Health Promotion and Maintenance
- Child Health Promotion and Maintenance
- Critical Decision Making in Advanced Nursing Practice
Advanced Doctoral Nursing Courses
- Psychobiology of Human Behavior and Psychopharmacology
- Acute and Episodic Care Management
- Evidence-Based Practice for Advanced Nursing
- Leadership and Management of Healthcare Systems
- Program Evaluation
- Chronic Illness Management
- Medical Informatics
Clinical requirements can make or break your education. Although minimum requirements are set at 500 and 1000 hours for Master’s and doctoral students, respectively, some schools go far beyond minimum requirements to ensure that students have a well-rounded education. Your work at local clinical settings may influence your post-graduation job opportunities. If you are interested in nurse practitioner programs online options, find out where you can complete your clinical hours locally. A long commute to clinical sites may be inconvenient if you are interested in an online program due to work commitments.
Scholarships and Financial Aid for NP Schools in HI
As you narrow down your list of potential programs, you may start to think about funding your education. If you are currently employed as a registered nurse, find out if your employer has a tuition assistance or tuition reimbursement program. You may also inquire about assistantships at each school you are considering.
>Hawaii Nurse Practitioner Scholarship Programs
- NHSC Loan Repayment Program: This program may pay up to $50,000 of your student loans in exchange for two years at an NHSC-approved site.
- NURSE Corps Scholarship Program: Scholarships are given to selected students, who must then spend two years working in a Health Professional Shortage Area after graduation.
- BestNursingDegree.com Scholarships: A $2,500 scholarship can make a big difference in your school expenses, which is why we run four scholarship cycles per year.
- Native Hawaiian Health Scholarship: This program is exclusively for Hawaiian students. Selected students must work in a medically underserved part of Hawaii for 2 to 4 years after graduation in exchange for their scholarships.
Licensing and Practice Requirements for NPs in Hawaii
When you have finally earned your Master’s degree or doctoral degree, you can work on your nurse practitioner license. The Hawaii Board of Nursing requires a valid nursing license. They verify your valid Master’s degree or doctoral degree and your national practice certification. The licensing fee is between $106 and $162, depending on when in the licensing cycle you apply. You must renew by June 30 in every odd-numbered year. If you want prescriptive authority as an NP, you must apply for it separately. Once you make it through this rigorous process, you enjoy the benefits of full practice rights (AANP, 2016).
Nurse Practitioner Careers in Hawaii
As a fully licensed and certified nurse practitioner, you should be ready to jump into your new career. Between 2012 and 2022, job openings for nurse practitioners may swell 24% in Hawaii (O*Net, 2016). The average income for a Hawaii NP is $114,220 annually (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2016).
Since Hawaii is a state with full practice rights, you may have many employment options to consider. You may open your own practice and work independently with patents, since you do not need a collaborative agreement with a physician. If you earn your degree at one of Hawaii’s family nurse practitioner programs, you may go into primary care and work in a clinic or you may go into acute care and consider options in emergency centers or urgent care centers. Specialty clinics may also hire nurse practitioners.
As an advanced care specialist, you are in a great position to work toward health care improvement in Hawaii. Your work can alleviate the burden on doctors and provide affordable, evidence-based options to Hawaii residents and visitors.
Selected NP programs for Hawaii Nurses
- University of Hawaii at Manoa. This school offers different master’s-level NP tracks, including a unique dual NP program, which allows graduates to complete either a family or pediatric nurse practitioner program with advanced public health nursing. Other NP tracks include adult/gerontology nurse practitioner, adult nurse practitioner and pediatric nurse practitioner.
- Pacific University Hawaii. Pacific U students can select either full-time or part-time study to earn a master’s degree as a family nurse practitioner.
- Georgetown University. Georgetown University in Washington D.C. offers online NP programs that are accessible to nurses in Hawaii: a Family Nurse Practitioner program and a Nurse Midwifery/Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner program. Classes are web-based, and clinical experiences can be arranged close to home.
